Olive Focaccia Bread

Last post of the year!  Got any resolutions planned?  I don’t usually partake in this ritual, but might give it a shot this year.  Maybe I should try introducing one each month instead of trying to do all at once and failing.

Very much related: I have this problem of being overly ambitious in my mind, and then not quite being able to live up to my plans.  Baking for holidays is no excuse: there were about three more things I wanted to make for Christmas, which is laughable now that I look back at it.  In addition to Stollen and cupcakes, I made focaccia bread…only things didn’t go quite as I had hoped.

I had never made focaccia bread, but wanted to do so because my aunt and uncle were having lasagna for our Christmas Eve lunch.  While looking up recipes, I found Pioneer Woman‘s Olive Focaccia which sounded simple (no kneading!) and yummy (bread with olives in it, yo).  Another incentive was that she said the dough could be refrigerated until needed.

My plan then was to mix it up, pop it in the fridge overnight, then shape, rise, and bake in the morning as I did with these rolls.  Wellll…I (thought I) had a bit of a fail.  But then it turned out to be the most delicious bread I’ve ever made.  I’ll explain what I did below in case you’re wondering how to make overnight focaccia. 

Two Things…

Thing One

A year ago from today, this is what I saw:

I’ve been having a really hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it’s been a whole year since that trip.  It feels like it was just a little while ago!  Maybe it’s this way with all big journeys, or maybe it’s just the first?

Either way, I’ve shamefully only uploaded several of the 1300+ photos that I took during my 5 weeks in New Zealand.  Until now, that is.  And guess what?  I’m sharing them with you!  My plan was to post them all at once, but I’m going to do this gradually because it’s daunting and evidently a year wasn’t long enough. 

Did you know that I have another blog?  (Answer: nope.)  I’m going to post NZ photo updates over there, but will let you know whenever those happen.  Like now: First set is up!

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes with Whipped Cream and Salted Caramel

Most of the texting between my sister and me involves links to recipes.  I guess we both got really into food this past year, which is definitely not a bad thing.  One of the first things I think she texted me was a photo of the December 2009/January 2010 cover of Fine Cooking magazine.  On it was a massive chocolate layer cake topped with cocoa-dusted homemade marshmallows.

Specifically, this one (photo by Fine Cooking, obviously):

Can you blame her?

A year later (last month), she texted me the link to Savory Sweet Life‘s recipe for Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate.  Uh, YUM.  It became clear to me that I needed to join these two recipes.  Hot chocolate in cake form seems like it would be best in individual sizes (cup…cakes), right?  Silly Fine Cooking. 

Daring Bakers Challenge: Stollen!

Merry (belated) Christmas, you guys!  I meant to post this yesterday, but better late than never.  Despite the lack of posts, there was a lot of holiday baking and dish washing going on over here, as I’m sure was the case for everyone else.

The end of the month brings another Daring Bakers Challenge, and for December it was appropriately something Christmas-related: Stollen!  If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a German treat that is pretty much like fruit cake in yeast bread form.  Even though I’m half German, I had never had it, so it was yet another adventure for me.

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking.  She chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make Stollen.  She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book………and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

Homemade Marzipan

Ahhhh.   I tend to go nuts around the holidays, but who doesn’t?  It doesn’t help that I always plan to bake a billion things, yet leave it to a few days before they’ll be consumed.  Then, instead of cutting corners, I like to make things more complicated.

Case in point: I decided I to use marzipan in one of the things I’m baking for Christmas.   Now, a sane normal person would just buy a log of it at their nearest grocery store.  What did I actually do?  I looked up how to make it, thought it didn’t look too tricky and decided to give it a go.

The thing is, it really wasn’t difficult to make, and it actually didn’t take too much time.

Let’s get to it because I have two more things to make before my family celebrates Christmas in 13 hours!   O_o  

Tex-Mex Migas

Growing up in San Antonio, there are just certain things that you don’t think twice about.  A lot of times, this pertains to food: chips and salsa should always be complimentary, the chips are often red and green during the holidays, and migas are really tasty.

Then you go north for school and notice the absence of all these things.  In fact, you see things like canned tamales.  Pardon??  I don’t even want to know.

When you come back, you find yourself working and hanging out with people from all over who have been transplanted into this seemingly other world.  That’s just how music is.  They can’t believe that it’s 75 degrees in December.  You catch them gawking in awe at the Christmas-colored chips, expecting them to be flavored.  (They’re not.)   And if you tell them of a great place to get migas, they’ll give you a blank stare, probably thinking you misspoke about where to find female friends. 

In December drinking horchata…

I love to make things from scratch and do so whenever possible, but somehow found myself with a half-full container of store-bought horchata.  “Somehow” is kind of a strong word though as I actually purchased said container.

You see, Jill and I were going to watch Love Actually a few nights ago, and I am accustomed to drinking things that taste like Christmas while doing so.  Usually this is a seasonal beer like Great Lakes Christmas Ale (when in Cleves) or Shiner Cheer, but neither of us were quite ready for alcohol after Monday night’s Flip Cup shenanigans.

I went to get some apple cider from the store, but could only find a $5 gallon container of it, which was way too much cider and monies.  While in the hot drinks aisle, I spotted “Klass” horchata.  I don’t remember when I first heard of the sweet, cinnamony rice and milk drink, but had definitely never tried it before.  And for $1.50?   Yes, sir! 

Lemon Ginger Cranberry Cream Scones

After Thanksgiving, I was left with cranberries, cream, and crystallized ginger, and then my friend Jill gave me a lemon from the tree in her backyard.  Seriously…a real, live lemon tree!

When life gives me cranberries, cream, crystallized ginger, and a lemon, I make scones….a few weeks later!  Nothing had gone bad because I froze the cranberries, the cream was unopened, and I put the lemon in the fridge.  Still, I meant to make these at an earlier point.

Originally, I was going to use this recipe from Joy of Baking, but add in the lemon/ginger/cranberriness.  Then while I was looking up how to freeze scones, I found that there was already a lemon cranberry cream scone recipe on Smitten Kitchen.  Figured I couldn’t go wrong with Deb!  

Peppermint Brownie Cookies

Have you ever played Flip Cup?

My suggestion if you haven’t: Don’t.

This was happening at a party last night (Monday = Saturday for musicians), and it was my first time playing.  It turns out that I’m pretty good at it which is surprising, but I think I’ll pass next time unless water is the beverage of choice.  (No, none of us are college students anymore. )  Please don’t judge.

Note to self: Don’t blog about drinking games.  Do blog about cookies.

We’re already halfway through December, and here I am finally posting something festive.  Typical, right?

I’ve had my eye on these brownie cookies for quite some time now.  Cookies in brownie form (AKA blondies) are delicious, so brownies in cookie form sounded like an obvious win. 

Veggies ‘n Dumplings

I’ve pretty much been a vegetarian for a year now (I think the anniversary of the last day I had meat was literally a few days ago!).  It really wasn’t a difficult change for me as I didn’t eat very much meat anyway, and I was never a fan of cooking with it due to the whole raw thing.  One major difference I’ve noticed is that I eat out WAY less than I used to and therefore end up cooking quite a bit more.

There are so many yummy non-meat things to eat that I rarely miss it.  When I do, it’s usually chicken that I crave most.  Despite how bad it is for you, I occasionally find myself with a crazy craving for Chick Fil-A.  Ugh…SO good, yet so bad.  It’s like everyday is Sunday.

Most of all, I miss my grandma’s chicken ‘n dumplings.  I grew up with them, and no other versions have compared.  Most dumplings are usually biscuits thrown on top of the soup, but my grandma’s are actually strips of dough cooked in the soup.  The result is this dense, almost chewy texture that I love.